Miami Law News Headlines: March 2013

(Posted: 03-28-13) It was inevitable that the issue of same-sex marriage would reach the highest court in the land. This week, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which amended that state's constitution to prohibit such marriages. The case, now known as Hollingsworth v. Perry, was filed in 2009 by what SCOTUSblog reporter Amy Howe calls a "legal odd couple" – trial lawyer David Boies and former Solicitor General Ted Olson, who are both best known for being on opposing sides in Bush v. Gore.

(Posted: 03-27-13) Horacio Gutiérrez, a University of Miami School of Law alumnus who is corporate vice president and deputy general counsel at the Microsoft Corporation, will be named "Lawyer of the Americas" by the Inter-American Law Review at its annual banquet in Miami on April 5.

(Posted: 03-25-13) Richard W. Rappaport, who graduated from Miami Law in 1973 and became an entertainment attorney, shared with students a few days ago some insights on the issues he faces in practice, including the intricacies of television and motion picture development, distribution, and financing. He also had a few tips on how to handle famous people.

(Posted: 03-25-13) A new joint-degree program, a J.D. and a Master of Science in Education in Community and Social Change, has been created at Miami Law in partnership with the University of Miami's School of Education and Human Development. The degree will enable students who are interested in the not-for-profit and non-governmental sectors to receive their degrees in a shorter amount of time than if they pursued the two degrees separately.

(Posted: 03-25-13) Miami Law's National Security and Armed Conflict Law Review will host a panel discussion titled "The Internet and Armed Conflict" on April 12 at the Storer Auditorium on the university's Coral Gables campus. The panelists will be Miami Law alumna Donna A. Bucella, JD '83, Assistant Commissioner at U.S. Customs & Border Protection; U.S. Air Force Major General Charles Dunlap (Retd.), Professor at Duke University School of Law; Jamil Jaffer, Republican Chief Counsel and Senior Advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and another alumnus, Michael Mullaney, JD '88, Chief of the Counterterrorism Section at the Department of Justice.

(Posted: 03-25-13) Miami Law is happy to invite students to apply for the Public Interest Service Student Awards, a celebration of the school's high esteem for the outstanding work that our students perform in the community.

(Posted: 03-22-13) Miami Law's Entertainment & Sports Law Society will host its 16th annual symposium at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami on Saturday, April 6. More than 20 panelists will speak on a host of matters in the field of sports and entertainment law, including the legal implications of concussions in professional sports, recent developments in the legal landscape of music, media and the law, and the art of orchestrating live entertainment.

(Posted: 03-22-13) Intent on raising revenue and promoting the law school's virtues, Miami Law's administrators agree to let camera crews turn the lives of faculty and students into a reality show. Chaos ensues. Fortunately – or not, depending how you look at it – it isn't true. But it's dramatic fodder for Miami Law: Sold Out, a theatrical production from Equity Playhouse that focuses on life at Miami Law as cameras track its daily activities.

(Posted: 03-20-13) Shari and Joel Ronkin are passionate about their alma mater. Two-time University of Miami alumni, they met on the Coral Gables campus as undergraduates and went on to earn degrees from Miami Law – Joel in 1992 and Shari two years later. Now, the two have established the Ronkin Family Scholarship to provide tuition assistance to Miami Law students who excel academically. The recipients will be known as Ronkin Scholars.

(Posted: 03-18-13) Anyone interested in the implications of linguistic pluralism for democratic societies will be inspired by a conference planned for later this week at the University of Miami School of Law. The conference, titled "Language and Democracy," will take place on Friday and is being sponsored by the School of Law, the Center for the Humanities, and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. The conference seeks to explore the various implications of linguistic pluralism for democratic societies.

(Posted: 03-15-13) Duke University will hold an interdisciplinary conference this week in honor of University of Miami Professor James W. Nickel's scholarly work in human rights law and theory. Professor Nickel, who teaches Philosophy and Law, is the author of the classic book "Making Sense of Human Rights" (1st ed. 1986, 2nd ed. 2007) and dozens of articles.

(Posted: 03-15-13) More 50 humans and about 100 of their four-legged friends, ranging from Chihuahuas to German Shepherds, gathered on the Bricks at Miami Law last month to participate in the law school's first "Walk the Dog" event.

(Posted: 03-15-13) Students in Miami Law's Professional Responsibility and Ethics Program recently led a two-hour ethics training session for the Housing Umbrella Group, a group of Florida housing attorneys, at their annual meeting in Tampa.

(Posted: 03-15-13) The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington cited a forthcoming University of Miami Race and Social Justice Law Review article in an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court of Washington in the case State v. Clark.

(Posted: 03-15-13) When you come out of the coal camps of West Virginia, the last thing you expect is to go to law school, let alone become a justice of the Florida Supreme Court. And yet that's what happened to R. Fred Lewis, somewhat to his own astonishment. "You have a great fear of failure," Justice Lewis, referring to his humble background, told an audience last month at Miami Law, from which he graduated third in his class in 1972. He returns every so often, as he did in September to preside over the Florida Bar swearing ceremony for the school's May graduates.

(Posted: 03-15-13) A recent lecture at Miami Law addressed the seemingly endless possibilities of so-called Outer Space Law. Two experts on the subject, Rafael Moro Aguilar and Sylvia Ospina, spoke at the invitation of the office of the International Graduate Law Programs and the International Law Society. Ospina discussed sovereign rights over air space, the origins of space law, the five United Nations Outer Space Treaties, and the International Telecommunication Union, while Aguilar addressed space tourism, space debris, and the legal regime of the International Space Station.

(Posted: 03-15-13) While attending the kick-off of LawWithoutWalls' academic year at IE University in Segovia, Spain, Miami Law student Erika Concetta Pagano was invited to give a lecture to a comparative contracts class at the university's campus in Madrid. The invitation was extended by Professor Pedro Letai, an IE faculty member who led its participation in LawWithoutWalls.

(Posted: 03-15-13) Amir Whitaker knows a thing or two about truancy and petty criminality. Growing up with 15 relatives in his grandmother's house in Plainfield, N.J., Whitaker learned to fend for himself while his parents and some of his siblings and cousins spent years behind bars. Money was a scarce commodity. At 15, after Whitaker began dealing drugs to pay for food and clothes, he was arrested and forced to navigate the juvenile justice system first-hand.

(Posted: 03-08-13) In an effort to support legal advocacy for Florida's foster children, The Florida Bar Foundation has awarded a grant of $100,000 toward Miami Law's Children & Youth Law Clinic. The grant, whose funds are being made available by the Batchelor Foundation, honors Miami Law alumnus Burton Young, J.D. '50.

(Posted: 03-08-13) Harold A. Flegelman, a visiting professor and lawyer whose clients include enterprises in the entertainment, media and advertising industries, will teach a short course at Miami Law this month called "Art of the Deal: Acquiring a Music Publishing Catalog." The one-credit course is being offered during the week that begins on March 18.

(Posted: 03-07-13) Steve Berger and his wife, Dr. Laurie Loevner, a professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, have established a scholarship fund at Miami Law. The Berger/Loevner Family Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide financial assistance to deserving law students, and the recipients will be known as Berger/Loevner Scholars.

(Posted: 03-06-13) For some students, there are better things to do during spring break than to head for Key West and frolic on Duval Street. Amanda Roesch, 2L, and a half-dozen other members of Miami Law's Immigration Clinic are making plans to join colleagues from other Florida law schools to fan out across the state for five days next week to help undocumented immigrant youths apply for a temporary immigration status.

(Posted: 03-04-13) In an article in The Student Appeal, an online law journal, third-year Miami Law student Joel Feigenbaum argues for the repeal of discriminatory legislation, often referred to as "garb statutes," that infringe upon the rights of Muslim-American public-school teachers in Pennsylvania and Nebraska.

(Posted: 03-04-13) Carolyn Lamm was one of just ten women among the 370 students entering the class of 1973 at Miami Law. Lamm went on to become the first Miami Law alumna to lead the American Bar Association as its president and has been named by the National Law Journal as one of the nation's 50 most influential women and 100 most influential lawyers.

(Posted: 03-04-13) Bertila Ana Soto, J.D.'89, an adjunct professor at Miami Law, has been elected Chief Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, which serves Miami-Dade County. Her election is historic, as she is the first female chief judge of the circuit as well as the first Hispanic and the first Cuban-American.

(Posted: 03-04-13) Dean's Fellow Jenna Winchester is to become the President of Miami Law's Student Bar Association when the gavel is passed to her later this semester. She will replace Christine Job, who will have served the traditional one-year term.